BLED, Slovenia - With four medals in the books, the United States wrapped up its effort at the 2011 World Rowing Championships on Lake Bled Sunday with wire-to-wire racing.
Despite pouring everything they had left after a week of training and back-to-back racing days, the lightweight women's double sculls and men's four crews finished just one place away from the podium.
"This is bittersweet," said Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) who, with lightweight double sculls partner Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.), rowed in bronze medal position until just about 300 meters left in the 2,000-meter course. Canada came through both Great Britain and the U.S. to finish second, leaving third for the Brits and fourth for Hedstrom and Nichols.
The duo qualified for the final yesterday in a race that was just as difficult and hard fought. After winning the overall points trophy on the world cup tour this summer, they had medal potential and high hopes.
"This caps off a great season with Julie and I," Hedstrom said. "It's been one heck of a wild ride this summer. To come away with fourth is certainly an achievement, but it's always hard to be right out of the medals, to just miss them."
While the men's four team of Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) were never in medal contention throughout the course, the crew also finished fourth and take away an Olympic boat qualification for the U.S.
"It was a good effort from the whole team," said Lanzone, who was in the four last year at Lake Karapiro and finished fifth. "We had to work hard to get through each race. There are no easy races in the straight four. It definitely took a toll from yesterday's race, but everybody had to race hard yesterday. It's a matter of how can we recover faster and have that edge on everybody else and still have that pop."
In all, the U.S team came away with four medals in the women's events. The women's eight and four took home gold, the women's quadruples sculls took silver and the lightweight women's quad took bronze.
By Sunday, the last day of the competition, the United States was down to its last six races of the 26 crews entered. In addition to the lightweight women's double sculls and the men's four, finals were contested in the lightweight men's quadruple sculls, women's single sculls, lightweight men's eight and the leg/trunk/arms mixed four with coxswain.
The weather was predicted to turn stormy, but it never happened. What started out as a week of summer skies and warm days on the crystal clear, blue waters of Lake Bled, ended the same way.
Four medals this year tied the total count from 2010, but just as important was qualifying boats for next year's Olympic Games in London.
The regatta served as the first chance for nations to qualify boats for 2012, and of the 14 Olympic class boats entered, the United States qualified nine including the men's single sculls, the men's and women's quadruple sculls, women's lightweight double sculls, women's eight, the men's four, and the men's and women's pair.
The remaining boats including the men's eight, the men's and women's double sculls, the women's single sculls, lightweight men's double sculls and the lightweight men's four will now race at the Olympic Qualification Regatta scheduled for May 20-23, 2012, in Lucerne, Switzerland.
While there is no hiding the disappointment of the men's team having not qualified the eight, both the men's and women's head coaches felt that the regatta was a good showing for the United States heading into the Olympic year.
"We're really happy to have qualified the boats we did, when you look at who did not qualify in certain events," said women's head coach Tom Terhaar. "We're relieved and excited that we can just focus on the Olympics now.
"The double is the only one that didn't (qualify)," he said of the women's side. "I think they probably had a great race. That's about what they've got. They went for it (in the semifinal), so I can't really get too upset about it."
For the men, the only Olympic-class boat that reached a final and did not have to qualify from the B final was the men's four, but just to have qualified the boats they did was an accomplishment, said head men's coach Tim McLaren.
"It's a credit to the guys," McLaren said. "You have new people in crews every year and we're up against some very established combinations and systems. I think the guys have preformed really credibly - the men and the women.
"We're improving in some areas. Unfortunately, the eight will be the real kicker," he said. "That is our biggest concern. But it's good for the pair to get through, the quad to get though, and the four. We've had some impressive racing. That next step is a big one."
The morning started with the women's single sculls B final. Rowing in her first senior world championships, Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass) finished fifth and did not qualify the women's single. Stone finished with a time of 7:49.01. Azerbaijan won the race in a time of 7:43.43, followed by Russia in 7:45.78.
Rowing next in the A final was the legs/trunk/arms mixed four with coxswain crew of Alex Stein (Stamford, Conn.), Eleni Englert (Oceanside, Calif.), Emma Preuschl (Indianapolis, Ind.), Andrew Johnson (Greenwich, Conn.) and Eric McDaniel (Weeki Wachee, Fla.) that finished sixth in a time of 3:38.16. Great Britain won with a time of 3:27.10.
They were followed in the next final by the men's lightweight quadruple sculls crew of Sam Cunningham (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Todd Mickelson (West Simsbury, Conn.), Chris Lambert (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Shane Madden (Ambler, Pa.) that finished fifth in 6:09.40. Italy won with a time of 6:00.9.
"We gave it our best shot," said Madden. "We have to go home, get back to work. We have to get strong. We have to get faster."
In the lightweight men's eight, the crew of coxswain Jack Carlson, (Belmont, Mass.), William Newell (Weston, Mass.), Jimmy Sopko (Mathews, VA.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.), Edward King (Ironton, Mo.), Matt Kochem (Burnt Hills, N.Y.), Christian Klein (Herndon, Va.), Kenny McMahon (Ladysmith, Va.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) raced in the final against Italy, Denmark, France and Australia.
The U.S. finished fifth with a time of 5:51.24. Australia won the gold medal in 5:44.57.
Watch Universal Sports coverage of the 2011 World Rowing Championships at www.universalsports.com, and tune in for the Universal Sports broadcast on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. ET.